The 98th Championship of Ireland Bands’ Contest was held today, Saturday 17th October 2015 in the Market Place Theatre, Armagh. The contest was adjudicated by Mr John Doyle.

This year the Third Carrickfergus Band has made the decision to move up to the Championship Section after a consistent and impressive run of winning results in all competitions in the second section over the last few years. While the band realise that this is a big jump it is necessary for the band to continue to push forward and improve and, despite the result, the band thoroughly enjoyed being back in top flight banding after a period of almost 30 years.

The set piece for the Champion Section Brass was the Overture “Comedy” by John Ireland. Our grateful thanks to today’s adjudicator, Mr John Doyle, for his detailed adjudication and points which we can take back to the band room and work at as we settle in to what is an extremely competitive and high quality section.

Our congratulations go to 1st Old Boys’ Brass on their win and to all the other winning bands bands in their respective sections today with a special mention to St. Joseph’s Brass on their band of the day award.

Full results of the day are noted below.

Youth Brass Band

Test Piece: Own Choice Programme

1st place 1st Old Boys’ Silver Junior Band – Conductor: J Bingham (Mrs) 187 points
Downshire Youth Band – Conductor: M Alcorn 185 points

Fifth Grade Brass

Test Piece: Own Choice Programme

1st place: 1st Larne Old Boys’ Silver – Conductor: W Clements 170 points

Fourth Grade Brass

Test Piece: Shalom (P Sparke)

1st place: Poyntzpass Silver – Conductor: D Watson 185 points
Warren point Silver – Conductor: S Murray 182 points

Third Grade Brass

Test Piece: Narnia Suite (Geoffrey Burgon)

1st place: St Joseph’s Brass – Conductor: N Barr 192 points
2nd place: – Comber Silver – Conductor:: W Thompson 191 points
3rd place: St Mark’s Silver – Conductor: J Parkes 189 points
Dungannon Silver – Conductor: B Pinto 187 points
Wellington Memorial Silver – Conductor: J Kitchen 186 points

Second Grade Brass

Test Piece: Hollywood (Goff Richards)

1st place: Lourdes Brass Band – Conductor: M Hannan 189 points
2nd place: Drogheda Silver Band – Conductor: M Maher 188 points
3rd place: Roughan Brass Band – Conductor: K Anderson 186 points
Arklow Shipping Silver Band – Conductor: K Teers 185 points
Ballyduff Silver – Conductor: W Hill 184 points
CWA Brass – Conductor: E Ruddock 183 points

Best Bass section: Lourdes Brass Band
Best Cornet section: Drogheda Brass
Conductor’s Prize: M Hannan

Championship Brass

Test Piece: Comedy Overture (John Ireland)

1st place: 1st Old Boys’ Silver – Conductor: S Cairns 191 points
2nd place: Laganvale (Metal Technology) Band – Conductor: S Crooks 190 points
3rd place: Downshire Brass – Conductor: M Alcorn 188 points
Murley Silver Band – Conductor: W Hill 187 points
Strabane Concert Brass – Conductor: P Christian 185 points
Third Carrickfergus Band – Conductor: D Graham 184 points

Best Instrumentalist: Nathan Thompson – Solo Cornet – Laganvale (Metal Technology) Band
Conductors Prize: S Cairns – 1st Old Boys’ Silver Band
Best Performance of the Day: St Joseph’s Brass